“King Cotton” was a slogan used by the Confederacy claiming that cotton exports would make an independent confederate state economically fortunate, ruin the textile industry of New England and most importantly, it would force Great Britain and France to support the Confederacy in the Civil War because their industrial economy depended on cotton textiles. To show their power of King Cotton, southern cotton merchants immediately refused to ship out their cotton to northern textile mills in early 1861. By the summer of 1861, the Union Blockade shut down over 95% of exports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STw-_DMWm8I
The image above was a panoramic photograph of a cotton plantaion from 1904, titled “King Cotton”
Im not sure if any of you have seen Blood Diamonds, but it relates very much to King Cotton. Its based on a true story in war zones in Africa in which cartels force children to kill and mine for Diamonds which is where the name “Blood Diamonds” came from. Do you know any other products that would classify as another “natural resource” that gives economic profit to the government or some sort of higher power while leaving other people in dismay?
